正斗粥麵店 Cheing Dou congee noodle shop, Whampoa Food Mall, Kowloon, Hong Kong

This shop has been given a star rating by Michelin and also quite a talk of the town. So why not give it a try and see if there is one which can replace my most favourite wonton shop Mak Um Kee 麥奀記 and Chee Kee 池記.

1. the table setting. Checked the paper plate and it mentioned the background of Won Ton that Won Ton is a meaning of shape and style blended together. The shop even claimed itself as the very well established wonton shop. If so, they should have known even better of how Won Ton is claimed from. Won Ton in Chinese means the chaotic atmosphere in the Winter to Spring transition. Won Ton wraps such chaotic things and when one bites it, it would break away from such a chaotic atmosphere. The meaning of Won Ton represents the beginning of the World and how we took on a new era. It is very literal indeed. 盤古初開，咬破錕鈍, 帶出新景之意. 2. Hot hot pickled - I kind of like it as it's not very sweet and the 2 types of chilli brings out the nice aroma of radish.

3. OK. Wonton noodle - HK$24. The soup base is very nice, and it was boiled for a long time with spare ribs, Da Day Fish, dried shrimp roe. The dried shrimp roe was first pan roasted and gives the shop a very nice aroma. This is the essence of wonton soup. Besides, it's not very salty. I took all the soup. The noodle is also nice and the processing of "pressing" the noodle is handled well. In fact, next time I should just order the wonton noodle. 4. Stir fried clams HK$48. I think there are about 15 clams in it and a bit over-priced.

5. Deep fried shrimp/crab balls HK$48 for 4. This one is at average. If the chef put some half fat/half lean ground pork in it, it would be better. 6. Crab meat on bean sprout HK$78. Another over-priced dish. The egg white took almost 3/4 against the crab meat less than 1/4. The bean sprouts was not stir fried in a good way. Quite watery and the Chef didn't quick stir fry it well to seal the juice of the veggie. Quite disappointing.

7. Stir fried beef noodle HK$68. Nowadays quite many kitchens use those non-sticky pan for stir frying as it's much easier. In Cantonese cooking, a raw iron wok 生鐵鑊 is still the best as it can deliver the heat very quickly and it's like the fire directly heating the food. Furthermore, the raw iron wok can create the high heated wok but oil being cool 猛鑊陰油 which is the most important part of stir frying. 8. Chicken frog congee. First the congee was made of the rice powder to make it pasty texture but it doesn't have the rice aroma, but it is the right one for those who prefer the pasty texture. The frog should have been marinated with more wine to take away the smelly part. So personally I would say it can be only named as a noodle shop to me, not noodle/congee shop.

9. 黃沙豬潤腸 Pig's liver rice roll. Supposed if it's claimed as 黃沙豬潤, it should be kind of a melting in your mouth. However, it was marinated with some soda powder and that took away the original flavour of liver. 10. Deep fried pork/dried shrimp/chestnut chewy dumpling 咸水角. This one is pretty good. It's quite chewy and not that oily.

11. Deep fried bun - quite at average. 12. Spring roll - don't know why they use another type of wrapping. It tends to be more egg flavour. Though the original spring roll should be used with some rice made wrapping, this one would get you an alternate taste of spring roll.

13. Quail egg Siu Mai. Quite at average. If the dried mushroom is better, it would deliver a better flavour to the quail egg. 14. the shop entrance